Lake Weir H.S. principal to Manatee County?

As district leadership continues to restructure personnel, the Manatee County School Board seems poised to approve two candidates for key management positions.

By Katy BergenSarasota Herald-Tribune

MANATEE COUNTY — As district leadership continues to restructure personnel, the Manatee County School Board seems poised to approve two candidates for key management positions.Mary Murray, who has served as a principal and assistant principal in multiple Naples schools, is slated to become the next director of high schools, a new position created by Superintendent Rick Mills this year.The recommended director of middle schools is Cynthia Saunders, a Silver Springs resident who since 2006 has been the principal of Lake Weir High School and is slated to become the principal at North Marion High School. Saunders would be reunited with Manatee's new deputy superintendent of instruction, Diana Greene, who left Marion County earlier this year.Both positions have a salary of $115,265. The district has not yet announced who will be recommended as the new director of elementary schools.Mills created the three positions this year to replace two director positions held by Joe Stokes and Jim Pauley. At the same time, he created new deputy superintendent positions that displaced former assistant superintendents Scott Martin and Bob Gagnon.Martin has since transitioned to staff attorney. Mills has promised a spot on his senior leadership team to Gagnon, whom Bradenton Police have recommended be criminally charged for not reporting allegations made against a football coach this year.The State Attorney's Office has yet to announce a conclusion to the investigation.Both Stokes and Gagnon have applied for the elementary schools director position.